Cleaning and bleaching composition



252. COMPOSlTlONS,

Patented June 27, 1939 I si 0534.4

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLEANING AND BLEACHING COIWPOSITION No Drawing. Application February 26, 1935, Se-

rial No. 8,412. In Germany February 28, 1934 6 Claims.

This invention relates to cleaning, bleaching and penetrating agents or compositions and to their use in the treatment of fibrous materials, of metals, glass, paint and other surfaces. Primarily the invention is based on the discovery of the unexpected cleaning qualities of the soluble salts of sub-phosphoric acid. As will be made clear in the following description, the invention extends to various mixtures of the subphosphate with other ingredients, which mixtures or compositions have proven valuable in many commercial processes.

An object of the invention is to provide compositions suitable for the treatment of textiles and other organic materials sensitive to heavy metal salts which prevent deposition of such salts on the organic material and the appearance of stains.

Another object is to provide an improved cleaning, scouring and penetrating agent for industrial and household use.

A further object is to provide an improved bleaching agent which also may have excellent cleansing properties depending upon the nature of the auxiliary substances included in the composition.

The hypophosphates employed in accordance with the present invention may be either inorganic or organic salts. The preferred inorganic salt is tetrasodium hypophosphate, but other alkali metal salts maybe'u's'ed'withsubstantially equal advantage. of the organic salts which are suitable there may be mentioned triethanolamine, cyclohexylamine, aminopropandiols and other similar compounds. These compounds may be used alone in accordance with the broader aspects of the invention, but are preferably employed together with other compounds referred to as cleaning agents in the trades. One class of compounds which impart valuable properties are those which render solutions of the hypophosphates alkaline or more alkaline, such for example, the following salts: soda, water glass, borax or borates, alkali metal orthometaand pyrtiphosphates, soap and other like compounds" Hereinafter referred to collectively as alkaline salt cleaning agents.

Instead of soap other saponaceous compounds may be employed, for example, the alkali metal salts of various sulfonated oils as Turkey red oil and sulfonated fatty alcohols such as described in the Bertsch United States Patent No. 1,968,797, granted July 31, 1934, which are hereinafter referred to collectively as water soluble salts of higher molecular alkyl sulfonates" or other capillary active compounds containing on the one hand higher molecular radicals and on the other hand a radical adapted to impart solubility in water. For the preparation of compositions suitable for particular purposes there may be added to the hypophosphates or the above mixtures other known foaming and superfatting agents, organic solvents and enzymes.

Bleaching agents having very valuable properties may be obtained by mixing with the above mentioned compositions one or more oxygen yielding substances of the nature of hydrogen peroxide, perborate salts, p egsmfat,e salts, and the like. The beneficial action of these compositions may be enhanced by the incorporation of one or more stabilization agents of the nature of the silicates of magnesium, zinc and barium. The presence of soap or other saponaceous compound in the bleaching composition imparts excellent cleansing powers thereto.

The present invention comprehends the very wide proportions of hypophosphates in the cleansing and bleaching agents. The exact proportions depend upon the use to which the composition is to be put and can be easily determined by those experienced in the art. The hypophosphate salts may be mixed with the other cleansing agent in any desired manner and at any desired point in the manufacture of the cleansing agent or during use. Thus these salts may be added to the cleaning agent in the form of a powder or as an aqueous solution. They may be mixed immediately before using or even during their use. After incorporation of the hypophosphate, the resulting compound may be prepared and sold in solid, liquid or plastic state in any one of the following forms, such as powder, flakes, threads, lumps, solutions, pastes, or as an emulsion in a suitable vehicle. When the cleaning compositions herein-described are employed as scouring powders there may be incorporated a finely divided abrasive material such as ground sand. The cleansing powers of such scouring compounds are increased to a remarkable and astonishing degree.

Aqueous solutions of the hypophosphates are especially suitable for the treatment of textiles and other organic materials sensitive to salts of heavy metals because the hypophosphates form water soluble complex salts with these metals which, for example, may be iron, copper or zinc salts. The hypophosphate prevents the precipitation of these metal compounds on the fibers and thus prevents stains from appearing thereon.

When the hypophosphates are employed as Examiner 146 a, (A1 (in-..

" and other purposes an ingredient of the bleaching compositions hereindescribed very valuable properties result due to the fact that the hypophosphates are not oxidized by the hydrogen peroxide or other oxygen delivering substances. The hypophosphates have an outstanding stabilizing quality as compared with pyroand metaphosphates. In order to illustrate this superiority a series of tests are presented below.

A series of compositions were prepared containing 50% soap, 8% soda, 8% sodium perborate, 20% water, and 14% of the several phosphate compounds mentioned in the table. To determine the stability of the compositions 1% solutions of the same were heated to the boiling point and the oxygen loss determined by titration with the usual permanganate solution.

An observation of the results recorded in the above table shows that the hypophosphates have a much greater stabilization effect than the pyroand metaphosphates.

The cleansing compounds herein described may be effectively used without harm and with rapid results in the cleaning of textiles and surfaces 01 organic plastic substances, painted, lacquered and enameled surfaces, and also glass, ceramic and metallic industrial materials of all kinds. Furthermore, the hypophosphates may be used in the form of a liquid for the treatment of raw materials or intermediate products of an organic nature, especially textiles, leather and other fibers during the dyeing.

Example 1 Twelve parts of sodium per bqrate, parts of tetrasodium hypoph'dsphate, 10 parts of soda, 1 part ofihagnesium silicate and 50 parts of a all by weigfitfar'e't'horou'ghly mixed together in any suitable type of agitating apparatus. The resulting composition is an excellent washing agent adapted for use in the household and in the trades for washing textiles for laundering If it is desired to pIOdllCB a bleaching agent, the soap may be omitted. This bleaching agent may be advantageously used in the textile industry and in the home for bleaching after the usual procedure, or for the bleaching of fabrics during rinsing operations.

Example 2 A cleaning composition is prepared by mixing 30 parts of sodium hypophosphate with parts of soda and 15 parts of sodium metasilicate, all parts by weight. This composition is excellently suited for the cleaning of surfaces of all kinds including glass, enamel, porcelain, etc. If it is desired to clean alkali-sensitive metals a quantity of waterglass may be added with good efiect.

Example 3 Into a mixing apparatus there are introduced 10 parts of sodium perborate, 14 parts of tetrasodium hypophosphate, 8 parts of soda and 1 part of magnesium silicate, all by weight. The resulting composition constitutes a good bleaching agent, the aqueous solutions of which are well suited for use in the textile industry for bleaching fibers. These solutions are especially valuable because of the slow and uniform rate at which the oxygen of the perborate compound is liberated. If it is desired to impart cleansing properties to the composition 47 parts by weight of soap are added. The resulting composition is suitable for use in the household and in trade .laundries for the washing of textiles of all kinds.

Example 4 Nine parts of sodium perborate, 15 parts of tetrasodium hypophosphate, 8 parts of soda, 1 part of magnesium silicate or other silicate herein disclosed, and 46 parts of a commercial mix ture of sodium salts of sulfonated higher alcohols composed principally of sodium lauryl sulfate, all by weight, are thoroughly mixed together. An excellent washing agent is obtained which is adapted for use in laundries as well as in the household for cleaning and washing textiles, laundry and the like.

It should be understood that the present in vention is not limited to the specific details and compounds herein described, but that it extends to all equivalent materials within the tenor of the specification and the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A treating composition for removing impurities from textiles comprising an aqueous solution of a water soluble salt of subphosphoric acid.

2. A cleaning composition suitable for metal glass, paint and other surfaces composed essentially of an aqueous solution of an alkali metal salt of hypophosphoric acid.

3. A cleaning composition comprising a water soluble hypophosphate salt selected from the group consisting of alkali metal, triethanolamine, cyclohexyl amine, and amino-propandiol salts of hypophosphoric acid, and at least one substance adapted to increase the alkalinity of an aqueous solution of the composition selected from the group consisting of soda, waterglass, borax, the borates, alkali metal phosphates and soaps.

4. A cleaning and bleaching composition comprising a water soluble hypophosphate salt selected from the group consisting of alkali metal, triethanolamine, cyclohexyl amine, and aminopropandiol salts of hypophosphoric acid, an oxygen delivering per compound selected from the group consisting of hydrogen peroxide, alkali metal perborate salts and persulfate salts, and at least one substance adapted to increase the alkalinity of an aqueous solution of the composition selected from the group consisting of soda,

waterglass, borax, the borates, alkali metal phosphates and soaps.

5. A cleaning and bleaching composition comprising a water soluble hypophosphate salt selected from the group consisting of alkali metal, triethanolamine, cyclohexyl amine, and aminopropandiol salts of hypophosphoric acid, an oxygen delivering per compound selected from the group consisting of hydrogen peroxide, alkali metal perborate salts and persulfate salts, and a silicate salt stabilizing compound selected from the group consisting of magnesium, zinc and barium silicates.

6. A cleaning and bleaching composition comprising a water soluble salt of hypophosphoric acid, an oxygen delivering per compound bleaching agent and a silicate of the group consisting of magnesium, zinc and barium silicates.

WERNER REUSS. FRIEDRICH HOERMANN VON UND ZU GUTTENBERG. 

